This disclosure relates to the fields of electronic devices and application software. More particularly, a user interface for presenting electronic content is provided for a mobile application.
Mobile computing and communications devices, while providing great convenience in terms of portability and flexibility, typically lack display screens comparable to stationary computers and workstations. Therefore, a user of a mobile device may be able to operate various applications while on the go, but the small display screen may detract from his or her enjoyment.
For example, an application (or app) designed to visually depict news stories, magazine articles, content from a professional network or a social network, electronic mail, and/or other types of content will be limited in how much it can display at a time and in how it can display that content. There are many content sources, with many different items to view, of varying sizes, which may or may not be configured for display on the limited area of a mobile device's display screen.
Many mobile applications offer users access to content hosted or offered by third parties (i.e., organizations other than the provider of the application). When a user selects (e.g., clicks on) such a content item, the application typically opens a view of a snippet of the item's content (e.g., text), which may be provided via an RSS (Really Simple Syndication or Rich Site Summary) feed for example, and which includes a link to the rest of the item (i.e., at the provider's site). The user must activate the link to cause the application to connect to the corresponding third-party site; that site then controls the user's navigation of the content. Thus, the user must activate a first control (e.g., by click or tap) to open the snippet, and the user's manipulation of the snippet (e.g., scroll up or down, pan left or right) is interpreted and applied by the application. Then the user must activate a second control (e.g., the link) to finally access the full content, at which time the user's manipulation of the content is controlled by the third-party site.
To return from the external site to view a different content item or to otherwise use the application requires the user to first return to the content snippet (e.g., by activating a “back” control), and then return from the snippet (e.g., by manipulating the “back” control again). The requirement to activate multiple controls to access a single content item, and again to return, can diminish a user's enjoyment of the application.